Friday, 1 March 2013

No sooner has the dust settled on Kobato's birthday than it's time to prepare for another major event - that's right kids, it's culture festival time!

While the members of the Neighbours Club ponder what their group should attempt for the festival, a visit from Kobato reveals that she's clearly a closet Thespian (I said Thespian, Sena), having been selected to play the lead role in a movie production being made by her class. Always ready to be inspired (or rather, to rip off whatever good idea comes their way), the Neighbours Club thus decide that they, too, should work on a movie.

After an interesting movie-going experience and a visit to a cat cafe (this whole series should be set in a cat cafe if you ask me), Yozora puts her thinking cap on and writes a magnus opus for the group to produce.... a rather familiar-sounding story, which suggests that Haganai is the kind of thing that only a socially stunted teenager would write, I guess. Anyhow, I digress - it quickly becomes clear that Yozora has only written her story with a view towards bringing herself and Kodaka closer together; a fact which doesn't go down too well with the others, bringing forth a cycle of rewrites, further arguments and ultimately a major falling out between Sena and Yozora. Not the best of starts for this project, even if the script is finally ready to go come the end of the episode...

From a series that has often failed to get any laughs out of me, I will admit that this week's Haganai again managed to make me laugh a few times against a backdrop that, cliché though it is, makes good use of the show's characters and dynamic for the most part. I know I'm asking the nigh-on impossible, but I'd still love to see more movement in the relationship angle of the show rather than continued unheard mutterings and blithe ignorance as it seems like something the series has more than enough scope for, but for now I guess I'll just have to contend myself with the odd giggling fit. And more cat cafe visits, if you please.